Pages

Friday, November 20, 2015

How to cope with living in this time of terror

Some heard the news just before they went to bed while others woke up to it. Paris was attacked and hundreds of people lost their lives.

Hundreds of those that never envisioned they would be breathing their last while gyrating to the vibes of their favorite band or while catching up with an old friend over dinner, breathed their last. Paris brought into perspective what many other countries in the world’re going through.

Sadly we might have thought all these could be wished away and the lives lost might have fast become numbers to us but it doesn’t seem like we have seen the last of these horrific acts. Just like the times before now, the terrorists are not about to put their arms down.

The madness seem to persist, in this part, the smoke from the Adamawa and Kano blasts can still be seen in the air.

Dreams broken and buried under the earth, body parts missing and scars telling of a day when an echoing sound sent kids and mothers scampering for cover. Millions of families displaced all over the world, living on drops of hope, hoping the sun shines in their lives again. It is just really sad that there seem to be no end to this madness. A lot of us have tried to understand it, perhaps it is as a result of different religions but how does one explain the attack on mosques or the bombing of markets where every and anyone could be. Perhaps we can sensitize one another and make everyone see that more harm is being caused and the seeds of hatred being sown will affect our generations to come but it is not that simple.

There are loads of misinformation and persons’ profiling. It is suddenly suspect to look or dress in certain ways. At the chant of “Allahu Akbar”, lives are lost and cities are razed to the ground but it is obvious now the name is just a front. Terrorists are no God’s servants, it has no religion. If anyone still thinks this is about religion, then we need more education.

The world has never needed a more common front to stick together and there is no better time to spread the message of love than right now. It is not the time to point fingers. Our message of love might seem like applying band aid to a wound that needs multiple stitches but I am convinced it is the right approach. I read a story once of a radicalized Muslim that was sent on a mission to spy on a particular city but found he could not carry out his operation after he got wounded in a car accident, and was taken in by a Christian couple who showed him so much love.

He confessed that the treatment he got from the Christian couple was in deep contradiction to all the things he was taught. This made him to reconsider his stance and he converted. His conversion probably saved lots of lives.His story is quite unique and it might seem more unlikely than possible but the fact remains that we never know how many lives we can change when we do and stand for the right things. Make love your first and only rule. We can make the world warmer.

May God bless the souls of the departed.Some heard the news just before they went to bed while others woke up to it. Paris was attacked and hundreds of people lost their lives. Hundreds of those that never envisioned they would be breathing their last while gyrating to the vibes of their favorite band or while catching up with an old friend over dinner, breathed their last.

Paris brought into perspective what many other countries in the world’re going through. Sadly we might have thought all these could be wished away and the lives lost might have fast become numbers to us but it doesn’t seem like we have seen the last of these horrific acts. Just like the times before now, the terrorists are not about to put their arms down. The madness seem to persist. In this part, the smoke from the Adamawa and Kano blasts can still be seen in the air.

Dreams broken and buried under the earth, body parts missing and scars telling of a day when an echoing sound sent kids and mothers scampering for cover. Millions of families displaced all over the world, living on drops of hope, hoping the sun shines in their lives again. It is just really sad that there seem to be no end to this madness.

A lot of us have tried to understand it, perhaps it is as a result of different religions but how does one explain the attack on mosques or the bombing of markets where every and anyone could be. Perhaps we can sensitize one another and make everyone see that more harm is being caused and the seeds of hatred being sown will affect our generations to come but it is not that simple.

There are loads of misinformation and persons’ profiling. It is suddenly suspect to look or dress in certain ways. At the chant of “Allahu Akbar”, lives are lost and cities are razed to the ground but it is obvious now the name is just a front. Terrorists are no God’s servants, it has no religion. If anyone still thinks this is about religion, then we need more education.

They want us all to live in fear, for us to be scared of going about our everyday lives. This has to stop. The world has never needed a more common front to stick together and there is no better time to spread the message of love than right now. It is not the time to point fingers. Our message of love might seem like applying band aid to a wound that needs multiple stitches but I am convinced it is the right approach.

I read a story once of a radicalized Muslim that was sent on a mission to spy on a particular city but found he could not carry out his operation after he got wounded in a car accident, and was taken in by a Christian couple who showed him so much love. He confessed that the treatment he got from the Christian couple was in deep contradiction to all the things he was taught.

This made him to reconsider his stance and he converted. His conversion probably saved lots of lives.His story is quite unique and it might seem more unlikely than possible but the fact remains that we never know how many lives we can change when we do and stand for the right things. Make love your first and only rule. We can make the world warmer by spreading the message of Christ.

We mourn along with the world and we pray God blesses the souls of the departed.